French drinks giant Pernod Ricard has begun the production of what have been described as ‘fully-connected’ drinks bottles, which will serve to protect against counterfeiting, while also offering the consumer information on product provenance, nutritional information, and general information on the brands themselves, according to The Drinks Business.
The technology was presented at the Pernod Ricard Roundtable on 14 February. This innovation complements the firm’s ‘connected’ cocktail library, which it hopes will drive the sales of its products in supermarkets.
The company’s CEO and chairman, Alexandre Ricard, said of the new ‘connected’ drinks bottles, “We believe in today’s world better to inform customers via their connected devices.
“Most of our brands have a home, a heritage and a provenance, so it is important for consumers to be able to scan a QR code on any of our labels and get information on traceability that we have.”
Ricard added that such a move will also help in the fight against counterfeiting.
“Being able to trace a bottle and make sure you can see it’s a true, authentic product is key in some markets that have those issues," he said. "Connected bottles, QR codes and digital are going to be a big competitive advance for big players that have real brands versus counterfeit ones. And there is a lot going on in that.”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
